First Look at Mafia III. Our impression: It's GTA: New Orleans

GTA – three letters that have made millions of players around the world squee over the last two decades. The same three letters have made several major publishers green with envy because their chances to roll out an AAA brand that could match its fame were, most likely, promptly extinguished. The first Mafia debuted when Rockstar’s franchise was barely taking off, leaving place for the Czech Illusion Softworks’ gangster story to gain a foothold on the market and secure a significant fanbase. However, there’s more to the game’s success than simply good timing. Mafia and Grand Theft Auto may have shared many features but the former had something, the latter could never get. Mafia’s gameplay was plot-focused, offered unconventional solutions, like driving according to the traffic regulations, and had a plot structure more similar to that of an old school point & click adventure game rather than a modern sandbox, albeit it has consequently been hailed as one.

Although the previous games from the series managed to, more (Mafia) or less (Mafia II), avoid being compared to GTA, this time around any comparisons are meaningless – Mafia III is an outright clone of the Rockstar’s cherished title, to the point that it could successfully pose as a spin-off. During my nearly 30-minute long encounter with Hangar 13 studios’ first-born, I often found myself wondering if I’m playing a heavily modded copy of GTA V. The open world is full of ever-present markers tempting the player to stray from his path to do a little side job. We have custom markers to help guide the players to their next mission. We have cars getting rammed with tremendous force and then leaving without a single dent on the body. We have pedestrians busy with their own little lives (kissing couples, junkies, buskers) and not just cruising between point A and point B. Geez, even the minimap is a GTA V rip-off. That characteristic rectangle with three bars leaves no trace of doubt that the Scots may have borrowed more from Rockstar North than just good ideas.

As you may already know, the game’s lead character is Lincoln Clay – Vietnam War veteran who set his foot in organized crime upon returning from war. Our protagonist uses every opportunity to lay stress on how he values those he thinks are his family, and we believe him as it becomes clear that he never had anything resembling a true family in his life. Having grown up in an orphanage, to his fellow countrymen he was just a black, good for nothing second class citizen. This changes when he joins a group of crooks with similar background; not because he wants to hit it big, but because his new companions and their boss treat him like a human being, a brother and a son. As you would expect, the good times are soon over when his gang is betrayed by Italian mob and promptly wiped out. Clay survives and vows revenge launching the spiral of violence once again.